It’s that time of year again – where hearts and cupids are everywhere we look, and the self development world is plastering quotes on self-love. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for love. But why does it have to be centered around buying more stuff, and what the heck does self-love mean anyway?

Love can mean very different things from one person to the next. And the road toward self-love can be long and hard, and is very personal. Yet, self-love is often spoken of as if it were a switch that could be simply turned on. And even more so, we often paint the picture that self-love is an idealized state where we only feel positive feelings towards ourselves.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Loving ourselves does not mean our inner critical voice is suddenly shut off, or that we never suffer, or that we don’t become disappointed in ourselves.

And from my experience, you can’t just decide to love something or someone and immediately have it be so. It takes intention, nurturing, and most of all time. Trying to force an end result without first focusing on the steps to get there can be disheartening.

What happens when you fail at something, or don’t meet your own expectations? What happens if you kind of hate a part of yourself? What happens when you decide to love yourself, you struggle with it, and then perhaps you start to think thoughts like: “Why can’t I? What’s wrong with me?” What happens when you think overly critical or hateful thoughts, then turn it around and say something loving – but it only makes you feel worse because you don’t truly believe it?

It’s exactly in moments like these where telling ourselves to be more loving might actually backfire.

So what then?

What if instead, we focused more on being compassionate toward ourselves?

Doesn’t that already feel oh so much lighter? Self compassion doesn’t ask us to judge ourselves, it’s simply a way of relating to ourselves kindly. It allows us to embrace ourselves as we are right now, flaws and all. It gives us permission to feel the way we feel without shame. It gives us a more solid sense of self worth because it’s there for us when we fail. It deeper connects us to others because it reminds us that to be human is to be imperfect.

You already have the roadmap and the skills to be compassionate. I can bet that you at least try to be compassionate with your good friends and loved ones. So there’s nothing more you need to learn; it’s simply a softening in to include yourself in the encouragement, understanding, empathy, patience, and gentleness you offer others.

I believe that once we stop treating ourselves so differently and show ourselves the same compassion as we do others, we will come to truly acknowledge our shared nature of our imperfect humanity – thus opening our hearts even wider to others and ourselves, in turn creating a more loving world all around.

Will you join me in this quest?

This month in our private Soul Circle, we’re exploring compassion, forgiveness, nurture, and patience. But this work is too important to keep to ourselves.

I’d love to extend an invitation for you to join me for 7 Days of Self-Compassion, where I’ll offer inspiration and a simple integrative activity each day for seven days to help you cultivate compassion for yourself – for FREE. If you’d love to get this daily dose of compassion in your inbox, simply CLICK HERE to register and we’ll start, of course, on February 14th.

I’ve been feeling so inspired these last few days, so I thought I’d share the love!

This week was the start of my class Roots, in which I’m the teacher AND the student! (Registration for this journey is now closed, but keep an eye out for early registration for our next journey in Sept!) I love playing along with this class, because it’s like a total reset on my practice as we remember how to play and reconnect with our creative spirit.

The first week is always dedicated to building sacred containers – finding the time, creating our space, and getting our journals ready… so I’ve been cleaning up my art studio and decided to purchase a cozy chair and a rug to warm up the space. (Keep a watch out on Facebook or Instagram, I’ll be sure to post a photo when I finish the space!)

It’s amazing how much our environment affects our creativity! What can you do to create an inviting, dedicated space to create in?

I’ve also been experimenting with color alongside my friend Mixy Gregory and her community in her year-long program TWELVTY. Each month we’re exploring a different color, and challenging ourselves to only use that color in our art. The thing that got me the most excited and inspired was the thought of having a full rainbow journal at the end of the journey! But as I dove into my first experiment with only using the color yellow, I discovered that it’s quite a challenge, and it really stretches your creative muscles!

Limiting yourself in some way often stretches your creativity! How can you challenge yourself? Perhaps try using only one or two colors. Or join us in Twelvty to explore the rainbow!

If you’d like to join me in Twelvty to learn more about color and explore them with us for a full year, you can SIGN UP HERE! Class has already begun, but Mixy has set up a special page for you to jump in with us! We start playing with green this month!

I’m also excited about Connie Solera’s free painting challenge to explore our bodies with art. Each day starting March 6th we explore a certain body part in whatever medium you choose. I think this is going to be so insightful and powerful, not to mention FUN!

Join in on the challenge by following the prompts on the image here, then share and get inspired with the hashtag #21embody!

If exploring your body with creativity sounds intriguing, I urge to you to also check out the next installment of 21Secrets: emBODY! (If you’ve never heard of 21Secrets, it’s a yearly collaborative workshop hosted by Connie, presented by 21 artists. It’s always been an amazing experience every time I join in!)

I’m so excited to share with you that I’ve been invited to be a guest teacher in the beautiful, online holistic workshop called Spectrum this year. What’s more, is that I have one spot to give away as part of the Give-Away Blog-Hop!

Organized by Hali Karla of Hali Karla Arts, Spectrum 2016 will be guided by 20 NEW featured teachers and more than 20 returning contributors offering a variety of workshops, inspiration and invitations – all intended to empower, nurture and celebrate your innate creative expression, healing journey, and personal development.

During the workshop (which starts May 2nd), there will be weekly inspiration & reflective activities related to mixed-media art-making and journaling, guidance on integrating your creative process and holistic awareness into your day-to-day life, and a variety of opportunities to connect, support, and share with others in the growing Holistic-Creative online community.

Talk about a powerful collection of words! You can expect a variety of perspectives on these topics and so much more. I’m excited even just to be participating in such a rich, diverse collective!

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To learn more about the details, including all of the contributors and workshop offerings for this course CLICK RIGHT HERE.

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Dancing in the Unknown

For my particular offering, I decided to focus on the prompt “navigating uncertainty”.

I believe being uncomfortable with uncertainty and the unknown play a big role in our fears and how we navigate our decisions in life. From the minute everyday decisions, to the big, life-changing decisions, our fear stands in the way of us hearing our true wisdom.

But what happens when we become more comfortable with the unknown? Our fear loosens its grip, we’re more easily able to hear our intuition… our Soul, and we can make better decisions more aligned with our Soul’s purpose.

Join me, as we step into the unknown, and use creativity as a tool to expand our comfort zone with uncertainty, listen deeply within, learn to navigate our fear, and start to build trust in our inner knowing… Trust in ourselves.

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Pre-registration officially opens on February 1, 2016 (and the program begins May 2). So be sure to sign up for email updates below if you want to get notified when the doors open!

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Enter the Give-Away

I have one free pass for Spectrum 2016 to offer you! To enter the drawing, please do each of the following:

#1. Share – Please share this post on your social media channels. You can find handy links at the bottom of this post, or feel free to pin an image to Pinterest!

#2. Comment – Share with me below in the comments why you’d like to join us in Spectrum. What has you intrigued? Or, Why do you feel this class would be good for you?

Blog-Hop Contributors

Below is a list of the other teachers who are playing along in the Spectrum 2016 blog-hop, with the dates their give-away goes live. Be sure to visit their site and enter there as well for extra chances to win!

I have been immersed in planning for 2016 and I am so excited for what’s to come!!

I naturally enjoy planning for my year ahead, but having some amazing, colorful tools help make it even more fun. In the video below, I share with you my ultimate, most favorite planning tools that make planning a fun, colorful adventure!

I’ve been using Leonie Dawson’s workbooks for a number of years now and I always look forward to filling them in and dreaming up my new goals for the year! It’s almost like having a life coach by my side, asking me just the right questions to push me into my best year and best self.

As I mention in the video, I was a bit nervous about setting aside my usual black moleskine planner for the new one Leonie just added to her planning collection… but I was so inspired by all the rainbowey goodness, I put together some tabs and fell completely in love with it!

Not only is it full of color and fun, but it’s one of the most functional planners I have ever used. It includes a month view calendar, check-in journaling questions to get you thinking about your intentions and goals for the month, weekly
views with space to fill in your to-do’s for each day, extra spaces for doodling, gratitude, and so much more!

If this sounds like something you’d love too, grab your own at: bit.ly/amazing2016 (When you click on the Order Now button you’ll be directed to the area where you can choose to get the planner separately or get a bundle pack with her equally amazing guided workbooks.)

Whether you choose to use Leonie’s planner, or your own favorite, I have a special gift for you to brighten it up!

I just know you’re going to love the rainbow tabs I’ve created just as much as I do, so I put together a printable pdf with the images and directions on how to add your own.

It’s so easy to get lost in the glamour of the art journaling world, browsing through blogs, watching YouTube videos, flipping through gorgeous magazines, and buying the latest products… that we forget what art journaling is really all about.

Art journaling has a deeper purpose. It’s not about the supplies you use or the techniques you learn…

It’s about the connection you make with yourself through the process of journaling.

It’s about growth, trust, and self-compassion.

It’s about exploring and finding your own path.

It’s about opening up for self-exploration.

It’s about believing in yourself.

Are you ready to make that shift in focus and give up comparing your journal pages to others’ so that you may discover your own style?

Press pause on those YouTube videos, hit cancel on that shopping cart, and open up your journal right now!

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About Kristal

Kristal is a creative life coach who helps women reclaim their creative magic, reconnect with their Soul, and realize their innate magnificence so they can lead a more authentic, fulfilling life. Click here to read more...